Sieni Tiraa, local consultant for Griffith University, was busy conducting community tourism surveys earlier in the year. This research was spearheaded by Griffith University and aimed to obtain the people’s views on tourism, and their aspirations for future tourism in the Cook Islands.
The concept of Sustainable Tourism has been at the forefront of strategic and operational planning for decades. However the emerging paradigm shift is towards regenerative tourism.
The Covid-19 pandemic left many Cook Islands resorts empty
Photo: 123RF
Depopulation has long been an issue for the Cook Islands, but those numbers have shot up in the past few months, mostly tied to the loss of jobs in the tourism industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Api I Tumutoa used to work for Air Rarotonga, the domestic airline which shuttles people across the Pa Enua - the outer Cook Islands.
But when Covid struck and the tourists left, his work hours disappeared. The government wage subsidy wasn t enough to support his young family. I just had to find a secondary job, and I was lucky enough to get into a job in government, he explained.